‘It Was Really Nice To Do It At Home’ – Dowling On Old Belvedere Clinching Promotion

Dowling is one of a number of young players leading a new generation at Ollie Campbell Park. Three years on from winning the McCorry Cup with a talented Old Belvedere Under-20 team, he was appointed captain of the club’s senior side.

Such has been Old Belvedere’s impressively consistent form this season, they secured top spot and automatic promotion at the start of the month with a 34-22 bonus point victory over Nenagh Ormond, their closest rivals in the title race.

That means Dowling will get to lift the Division 1B trophy when they complete their campaign at UCC on Saturday, April 5. They have certainly worked very hard to get back to the top flight, with play-off defeats ending their hopes in both 2023 and 2024.

“It feels great,” admitted Dowling, when speaking to IrishRugby.ie about Old Belvedere guaranteeing their place in Division 1A for next season.

“We knew how difficult it was to gain promotion when you go into the play-offs. We’ve been there twice, and the odds can often be stacked against you. We focused on trying to avoid that again this year at all costs.

“It’s a great relief to be honest, and really nice to get the job done at home. The only problem now is, it’s hard for some of our squad to focus!

“We have a really good squad so the remaining games gives us the opportunity to try a few things out, and maybe give a couple of players an opportunity to show what they can do.”

The last two years have seen Old Belvedere, who were relegated back in 2017, contest the play-offs. They went down narrowly in a semi-final against Highfield (19-17) two years ago, before losing a one-sided final, 34-3, to Garryowen last April.

Building off the last couple of campaigns, Belvedere have been champing at the bit in 2024/25 under a new coaching team led by director of rugby Quenton O’Neale, who has been assisted by Eoin Smyth and Ireland Sevens international Bryan Mollen.

Alex Codling and Seamus Toomey, who have IRFU positions respectively as Ireland Women’s forwards coach and scrum coach within the Union’s performance pathway, were also involved too in getting ‘Belvo on track to win 14 out of their 15 league games to date.

Alongside hooker Dowling, the team captain at just 23, thirteen of their starting XV from their promotion-sealing win over Nenagh were 26 or under. The elder statesmen are Jack Keating (pictured above) at 30, and Joe White at 28.

‘Belvo have used those experiences of falling short in recent seasons to their advantage this term, and there has been a real belief and confidence to their play with a total of 11 try-scoring bonus points so far, and an average of 37.2 points scored per game.

“Definitely a better belief among the squad right from the start of the season. A core group of the squad now have a good bit of experience, 50 caps or more, and this helped a lot,” explained their skipper.

“We also have some great leaders in the squad like last year’s captain Peter O’Beirne, Jayden Beckett, and Adam Howard, and a great group of younger players – it was a really good mix.

“Our culture captain, Kale Thatcher, has also been extremely influential both on and off the pitch. Over the last four years the club has won two McCorry Cups and a JP Fanagan League, those victories brought confidence also.

“Our coaching this year under the direction of Quenton was outstanding. It drove us on technically and physically, we were really well prepared for every match.”

Since the age of six Dowling has been putting on the Old Belvedere jersey. It is club that was always going to be a natural fit, with his dad Paul and older brothers also playing in the famous black and white hooped shirt.

He is the middle child of five, and the Dowlings are all involved with the Ballsbridge-based club. Fittingly, dad Paul is President for this title-winning season, with Calum a very proud Men’s senior captain.

One of his brothers, Gavin, is the team doctor, and his other three siblings are involved with other ‘Belvo teams, while their mum Eilís is of course an avid fan on the sidelines.

Calum credits the work the mini set-up does at Old Belvedere RFC in terms of early development, and praises club stalwart, the one and only Ollie Campbell, for being a real role model for the players.

Reflecting on his family links to the prestigious club, he said: “I’ve played in ‘Belvo for a long time now and have great friends and great memories of every stage. We had a brilliant experience and success as Under-20s, but winning the league this year tops it.

“My dad played in ‘Belvo for years so it was always a natural choice. I am the middle boy, number three of five. So there was a well-established pattern by the time I came of age.

The Minis set-up here is fantastic and gave me a great grounding in rugby. Ollie Campbell is the Minis patron and is a real role model for all the players in the club.

“We are a family of five boys who are all involved in the club. My brother Gavin doesn’t play anymore but he is our team doctor. My other brothers, Max and Leo, play J1s, and Val, the other brother, is on the Under-20 squad.

“Dad played and coached for years and is now President, that’s been both good and challenging for both of us! My mum, Eilís, is a great supporter of the club also.”

With his 15 tries making him Division 1B’s leading try scorer, Dowling really has been leading from the front. He is three tries ahead of winger Keating heading into the final three rounds.

Winning a league trophy and promotion with games to spare is always a great feeling, and replacement O’Beirne’s late try to get them over the finish line against Nenagh, in front of a vocal home crowd, was a huge moment in their season.

Fourteen years was a long time for the Old Belvedere Men to wait for an All-Ireland League title, and with a break in fixtures following that round 15 match, Dowling and his team-mates made sure to celebrate that long overdue success.

“It took me a good few days to recover alright! The night of the Nenagh match was brilliant. In fairness, the Nenagh lads stayed for a good while, and it was great to see the happiness on so many faces in the club, both those who are regulars and those who maybe hadn’t been in the club for a while.

“Philip and his team behind the bar looked after us so well, as usual! We had day two the next day with an early start and a late finish! A very special memory with a great bunch of lads from the whole squad.”

Going into these last three games of the campaign, preparations are already beginning for next season. They visit Blackrock College at Stradbrook on Saturday, and one Dublin derby will lead to another in the form of Dublin University a week later, before they see out Division 1B away to UCC.

Next season they will have Dublin derby clashes with St. Mary’s College, Clontarf, Terenure College, and Lansdowne, and also UCD if they stay up. There could another club from the capital incolved depending on how the relegation and promotion situations unfold.

While the second-tier title is on the way to Ollie Campbell Park, O’Neale’s charges are not putting their feet up just yet. Dowling believes the team are not going to hold back in these final rounds, with one eye on preparing themselves for top flight action next season.

“We can start to think and to plan. These games do give us some opportunity to experiment but we definitely want to win our remaining games. We won’t be holding back,” he insisted.

“1A is a massive challenge but we have seen what Mary’s have done (in currently sitting second in the table) and that gives us encouragement. It’ll be hard work but we are really looking forward to the challenge.

“We’ve had big derby days this year with Wesley, ‘Rock again this weekend, and Trinity next weekend, and the club lights up on days like those. That list of Dublin derby games next season is certainly something to look forward to.

“We all know guys playing in the other clubs so there are plenty of sub-plots in those games. For the club, having a big noisy crowd makes for really exciting days, and I know everyone is really looking forward to next season already.”

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